Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: While language style is considered to be automatic and relatively stable, its plasticity has not yet been studied in translations that require the translator to “step into the shoes of another person.” In the present study, we propose a psychological model of language adaptation in translations. Focusing on an established interindividual difference marker of language style, that is, gender, we examined whether translators assimilate to the original gendered style or implicitly project their own gendered language style. In a preregistered study, we investigated gender differences in language use in TED Talks ( N = 1,647) and their translations ( N = 544) in same- versus opposite-gender speaker/translator dyads. The results showed that translators assimilated to gendered language styles even when in mismatch to their own gender. This challenges predominating views on language style as fixed and fosters a more dynamic view of language style as also being shaped by social context.
Language: English
Topic: Gender Studies in Language
Subfield: Gender Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: INSPIRE Track 1: Language-Based Computational Methods for Analyzing Worldviews, G1796317915, Social Media Signals for Post-traumatic Stress and Anxiety in Crisis-Inflicted Communities, Tracking and Understanding the Effects of Transformative Events in People’s Lives, Co-sensing of couples’ adjustment to a life transition in daily life: A comparison of interpersonal emotion regulation in couples with and without depression risk, Tracking and Understanding Cultural Values using Big Data
OpenAlex ID: W2996205365